Netanyahu meetings with Saudis, Gulf leaders won’t happen before election
“There’s a regional balance of power,” he explained. “In order to affect a real change, the Saudis would need to meet with the Israeli prime minister.”
By LAHAV HARKOVIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/REUTERS)
Meetings between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman or leaders of other Gulf states will not take place before the March 2 election, Rabbi Marc Schneier told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.These leaders are considering a summit with Netanyahu, but “want to wait until the elections are over,” said the American rabbi who has extensive ties in Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf.Schneier, president of the interfaith dialogue organization Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, commented on reports of a US-backed summit in Cairo between Netanyahu and the leaders of Sunni states in the coming weeks, following his visit to Saudi Arabia as a guest of its Foreign Ministry for a series of high-level meetings, including with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and State Minister Adel al-Jubeir.“The timing of this meeting [as reported] runs contrary to what I have heard from several Gulf leaders in several Gulf states,” Schneier said. “They would look to this to take place after the election on March 2.”The Jewish News Syndicate reported earlier this week, citing Arab diplomatic sources, that the US is working on organizing a summit in Cairo with Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Bahrain and Oman. Jordan was also invited, but King Abdullah declined unless Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas was included; Israel agreed to invite Abbas. A PA official, however, told JNS that they will not attend as part of their continued boycott of Washington.Schneier said Saudi Arabia would have to be the country to lead the way for other states along the Persian Gulf when it comes to the Trump peace plan.“There’s a regional balance of power,” he explained. “In order to affect a real change, the Saudis would need to meet with the Israeli prime minister.”In addition, “just as the Saudis led a peace initiative in 2002, it would only be natural for them to be at the forefront of [the new US] peace initiative and mediate between the Israelis and Palestinians,” Schneier said.The Saudis are “pleased that the process has been resurrected by the Americans,” the rabbi added.They also expressed concerns that the plan must meet “minimal standards” for a Palestinian state and the status of Jerusalem.Riyadh “offered a plan almost 20 years ago, and I remind them that it took the Israelites 40 years to get to the Promised Land. It’s not going to happen overnight. I think people appreciate it’s a process,” Schneier stated.As the leader of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, Schneier visits Gulf states several times a year for interreligious dialogue, but is also a major proponent of establishing relations between Israel and those states. Schneier is an official adviser to the king of Bahrain and works with the emir of Qatar, as well as the leadership in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
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